Piastri explains Lawson clash as Silverstone exposes F1’s energy problem

Oscar Piastri says his clash with Liam Lawson into Brooklands on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix was nothing more than a “multi-pass race start” as F1’s energy deployment came into play.

Piastri lined up eighth on the Silverstone grid, with the Racing Bull teammates Arvid Lindblad and Lawson on the fifth row behind him.

Oscar Piastri explains Liam Lawson British Grand Prix collision

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The trio battled for position throughout the opening few corners, with Piastri overtaking Lindblad only for Lawson to come from behind and fight both of them.

As the tussle played out, Piastri found himself in the middle of a sandwich, one that took a bite out of his front wing.

The Australian pitted for a new wing, which dropped him to the back of the field. He recovered to 11th place, missing out on a point by half a second as a late Safety Car for Max Verstappen’s off bunched up the field.

“I got sandwiched on the way to Turn Six, basically. Broke the front wing and had to box,” Piastri told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media, with the Aussie not apportioning blame.

If anything, it was the new power units and their varying energy deployment that created the incident.

“I mean,” Piastri added, “Lap 1 one on these kind of circuits is just carnage.

“It’s almost like a multi-pass race start.

“I was trying to overtake Lindblad, and I seemed like I had more power than him. Lawson then passed me and seemed like he had even more power than me.

“It’s just a mess. You’re trying to judge your speed to the car in front of you, look at the car behind you, but to be honest, I’m surprised that doesn’t happen more often.”

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Although it had seemed as if the frantic energy deployment passes that dominated the early rounds of the championship had toned down, Silverstone again saw drivers overtaking one another only to be passed seconds later. It all depended on who had more power.

Piastri warned that Formula 1 hasn’t seen anything yet with Spa and Monza still to come.

“These tracks where you’ve got so many straights where you’re not at full power, it’s just chaotic,” Piastri explained.

“Austria, I think had the potential for it to be a bit chaotic, but you’ve got all the straights so early in the lap that you don’t actually really run out of power that quickly.

“Here, by the time you’ve got halfway to Turn Six already, you’ve already run out of battery on a normal lap. Then you’ve got to turn nine.

“You’ve got so many straights where you’re not at full power that if you choose to save or use it your delta is huge, so I think it’s the layout of the track.

“Spa and Monza are going to be sad.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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